It is known by most persons skilled in the art of harmonica playing that approximately 31 notes can be obtained on a 10 cell, 20 reed, diatonic harmonica. This type of harmonica is commonly called the blues harmonica, or blues harp. In this type of harmonica, two reeds, a blow reed and a draw reed, are situated in each cell.
Ten distinct musical notes, the blow notes, can be obtained in the blues harmonica by blowing into the instrument. One distinct note is produced in each of the ten cells. These blow notes are produced when air is blown into a cell with the oral cavity open, causing the blow reed to vibrate and therefore produce a musical note.
Ten additional distinct musical notes are obtained in the blues harmonica by drawing air through the instrument, one note per each of the ten cells. These are the draw notes, and are produced when air is drawn from that particular cell with the oral cavity fully open, causing the draw reed in that particular cell to vibrate and sound.
It is also commonly known by most professional or amateur harmonica players today that seven or eight additional notes can be obtained in the blues harmonica by the bending technique. The bending technique utilizes both reeds in a particular cell of the harmonica to produce a musical note distinct from the blow or draw note that can be obtained from that cell.
Bending a reed in a harmonica implies producing a lowering of pitch by shaping the mouth and restricting the air flow in the oral cavity while blowing or drawing, stimulating the reed not normally played when either blowing or drawing to produce a note higher than it would if it were being played In the normal manner but lower than that of the higher pitched reed.
In cells 1 through 6 of the standard 10 cell, 20 reed, diatonic harmonica, the blow reed is tuned lower in pitch than the draw reed. The notes that can be bent in holes 1 through 6 are the draw notes. When drawing on a cell in this range, and with the mouth in the bending position, the blow reed is caused to vibrate sympathetically with the draw reed. This causes a lowering of pitch in that cell to a single pitch that is somewhere between the two original pitches to which the two reeds were tuned.
In cells 7 through 10 of the blues harmonica, the draw reed is tuned lower in pitch than the blow reed. To produce a bent note in one of these cells, the mouth is put into the bending position, while blowing, and the pitch of the blow reed is lowered to a single tone that is somewhere between the two original pitches to which the blow and draw reed were tuned.
Not all of the ten higher pitched reeds can be bent practically to a distinct chromatic tone with the bending technique. For two cells, 5 and 7, the difference in pitch between the blow and draw is only one semitone, and so the amount you can bend the note is only approximately a quarter tone, which isn't enough to produce a distinctly different musical tone found in the chromatic scale.
The disadvantages of this type of harmonica are:
(a) The total musical range of the instrument is limited to approximately 31 notes. Most musicians who learn to bend notes on the blues harmonica usually wish to be able to bend all the 20 blow and draw notes, but this is just not possible with the present state of art.
(b) The harmonica is not able to obtain a complete chromatic scale, chromatic tones being those that are foreign to the diatonic scale. In the present state of art, the blues harmonica is only able to achieve a diatonic, or normal, scale of eight tones to the octave plus a limited number of accidentals.
(c) The present art does not allow a player to obtain a glissando, or sliding up and down the musical scale, to impart a more fluid and live quality to the music on each and every reed of the harmonica.
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of this invention are:
(a) to increase the musical range of the harmonica:
(b) to enable a player to achieve a complete chromatic scale with the harmonica;
(c) to allow a player to obtain a glissando on each and every reed, thereby imparting a more fluid and live quality to the music; and
(d) to increase the volume of the instrument.